Tethered lighter-than-air vehicles provide an ideal platform to elevate various payloads. Typical payloads include sensors, communications antennas and relay equipment, cameras and other devices that can take advantage of an elevated position. Typical applications of such devices include telecommunications, electronic warfare, imagery collection, scientific study, aerial advertising, surveillance and television operations. Many of these applications require an elevated platform to be established quickly, with little notice, and without regard to weather conditions.
Heretofore, a typical aerostat inflation and deployment operation has involved a large ground team that can layout and hold the rather large, deflated aerostat, while a lighter-than-air gas is being introduced to inflate the aerostat. These procedures inevitably resulted in large amounts of loose aerostat cloth during inflation that can be damaged in even mild wind conditions. Specifically, the wind can cause the loose aerostat cloth to flap and/or strain, resulting in damage to the aerostat. Additionally, when loose  aerostat cloth is present, the wind can cause the location of the Helium inflation “bubble” to shift. This shifting of the Helium bubble can also damage the aerostat cloth. In short, these procedures have generally required a large ground team and have been restricted to optimum weather conditions.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide apparatuses and methods suitable for rapidly deploying an aerostat in windy conditions. It is another object of the present invention to provide an aerostat deployment apparatus that allows for the incremental inflation and rapid deployment of an aerostat without the requirement of a large ground crew at the deployment site. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a compact aerostat deployment apparatus that can be easily transported to the deployment site using a light-duty truck. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an aerostat deployment apparatus and a method for its use that are easy to use, relatively simple to implement, and comparatively cost effective.